Isaac of Antioch

Who is Isaac of Antioch?

Isaac of Antioch, one of the stars of Syriac literature, is the reputed author of a large number of metrical homilies, many of which are distinguished by an originality and acumen rare among Syriac writers. The trustworthy Chronicle of Edessa gives his date as 451–452; and the Chronicle of Michael the Syrian makes him contemporary with Nonus, who became the 31st bishop of Edessa in 449. He is to be distinguished from Isaac of Nineveh, a Nestorian writer on the ascetic life who belongs to the second half of the 7th century.

As to the identity and history of the author considerable difficulty has arisen. The statements of ancient writers, Eastern and Western, were collected by Assemani. According to these accounts Isaac flourished under Theodosius II, and was a native either of Amid or of Edessa. Several writers identify him with Isaac, the disciple of St. Ephraim, who is mentioned in the anonymous Life of that father; but according to the patriarch Bar Shushan, who made a collection of his homilies, his master was Ephraim's disciple Zenobius. He is supposed to have migrated to Antioch, and to have become abbot of one of the convents in its neighborhood. According to Zacharias Rhetor he visited Rome and other cities, and the chronicle of Pseudo-Dionysius of Tell-Mahr informs us that he composed poems on the secular games of 404, and wrote on the destruction of Rome by Alaric I in 410. He also commemorated the destruction of Antioch by an earthquake in 459, so that he must have lived till about 460. Unfortunately these poems have perished.